Building Resilience in an Urban Police Department

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine a resilience training intervention that impacts autonomic responses to stress and improves cardiovascular risk, psychological, and physiological outcomes in police. Methods: Officers [(n = 38) 22 to 54 years] modified emotional and physical responses to stress using self-regulation. Measurements include psychological and physiological measures [eg, heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure, C-reactive protein)] obtained at three time intervals. Results: Age was significantly (P < 0.05) associated with changes on several measures of psychological stress (eg, critical incident stress, emotional vitality, and depression). Associations were found between coherence and improved HbA1c (r = -0.66, P < 0.001) and stress due to organizational pressures (r = -0.44, P = 0.03). Improvements in sympathetic and parasympathetic contributors of HRV were significant (P < 0.03). Conclusion: A stress-resilience intervention improves certain responses to job stress with greater benefits for younger participants.